Gates? $100 Million Estate a Poor Venue for Piracy Talks

Memo to Bill Gates: I???m not sure that wining and dining an avowed Communist in a $100 million dollar high-tech mansion owned by the world???s richest man makes a strong case for the financial harm caused by software piracy....

Gates: ???I???m sure we can agree the technology industry will suffer gravely without strong protection of intellectual property.???

Hu: ???I heard this place has 24 bathrooms. What???s that about????

Gates: ???According to a study by the Business Software Alliance and IDC, global PC software sales in 2004 were $59 billion, but over $90 billion worth of software was actually installed. That???s an intolerable discrepancy.???

Hu: ???I guarantee you Vista???s ship date wouldn???t have slipped if I was running the show.???

Gates: ???Piracy costs U.S. companies billions of dollars a year.???

Drew is formerly editor of Network Computing and currently director of content and community for Interop. View Full Bio

If you thought consumerization killed UC, think again: 70% of our 488 respondents have or plan to put systems in place. Of those, 34% will roll UC out to 76% or more of their user base. And there’s some good news for UCaaS providers.